It's a beautiful evening, camping is going well. Nice fire, yummy food... now if only the mosquitoes weren't such a pain in the tail! Thank goodness for repellent! Need some? -- BKF
"I'd love just one that flakking works," grumbled Companion Xia. "I altered my diet to change the taste of my blood. I'm wearing the repellent bracelets, and the cream, and the spray." They sighed, swatting at a whine in the air. "And I'm still too delicious for my own good."
Human Lear could see the area beset with citronella candles, all alight and observing wilderness fire safety protocols. All useless against the large mosquitoes dodging the smoke just to get at Xia. He clapped one flat, at least. "What are you eating to change your flavour? I know you're a little too sensitive to Human mainstays." Which were either full of sulfates or deemed too disgusting for cogniscent life[1].
"Q'ima fruit. With the pulp," said Xia. "Very smelly fruit from my homeworld. It should repel anything."
It certainly repelled Lear. The fruit stank like a dead skunk on a hot day. So did Xia's breath. Nevertheless, such things didn't always work as expected. "Can you mash up some in little bowl? I want to run an experiment."
Xia watched as, holding his nose, Human Lear carried the small bowl out at arms' length to place it under a portable floodlight.
Human Lear retreated upwind with his datareader to monitor proceedings. He did not have to wait long. In three minutes, the bowl was swarming with mosquitoes. "Bad news," Lear announced, "the bloodsuckers love Q'ima. Good news... we can use your supply as bait."
"Bad news," added Xia, "I must now acclimate myself with your horrendous vej-hee-mighty."
"Vegemite," corrected Lear. "It's not so bad as a soup."
Xia shuddered at the very idea.
[1] Like Vegemite. Australians love it, but everyone else views it as a war crime.
[Photo by Meg von Haartman on Unsplash]
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